Thursday, July 12, 2012

More Drone Stuff and Targeted Killings

Right now, Obama has placed himself and his judgment as the ultimate arbiter of
who can and will have the fuck target-bombed out of them, with collateral damage
being hidden or written
off as guilt-by-association and thus counted as more terrorists killed. The
whole program is based on a belief that Obama is doing good, with a list that
has included and more than likely still includes American citizens,
who, the White House has declared,
got their "due process" when people talked about whether or not to kill them.

Forget for a moment the idea that we're just outright murdering people
in foreign countries. Forget for a moment that if, say, China decided to send a
drone to take out Chen Guangcheng in New York City, we'd be hypocritical pricks
for having a problem with that (not that it would stop us). Forget that. The
reason to be angry, very angry about the drone program is right there. A
unilateral, unchecked power over the life and death of individual, everyday
people now rests with the President. And we're supposed to be fine with it
because it's Obama, and, boy, trust him because he's so fucking smart. But even
if you do, would you trust President Romney to rain robot doom in a rational
way? Or President Christie? Or President Jeb Bush? Or some unknown who isn't as
smart and good and wise and Nobel Peace Prize-winning as the current kill list
decider?

How can a Constitutional scholar think it's OK to take short-cuts on due process in life-or-death matters, just because it's the War on Terror or whatever we call it now?